Racing the bulls

Hormazd Sorabjee goes flat out at Imola in an Aventador, then in a Gallardo. Relive it here.

Imola is a classic European circuit set in the rolling countryside of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, amidst verdant vineyards and orchards. It is also in the heart of the supercar universe, a stone’s throw away from the factories of Ferrari, Maserati and of course Lamborghini. Once the home of the San Marino Grand Prix, Imola reeks of history, and every corner has a story to tell, the most well-known one being Tamburello – the fast left-hander that claimed the life of Ayrton Senna.

Sixty of us gathered at the Imola circuit in Italy for the experience of a lifetime, or more precisely, the Castrol Edge Lamborghini Experience. It’s a three-day programme the lube giant has put together with Lamborghini, which includes a visit the Lambo factory, the museum and an unforgettable day on the racetrack. There’s just a handful of us journos and the group mainly consists of some contest winners and Castrol’s best dealers.

Our instructor is Max Venturi, top test driver for Lamborghini and an instructor at the Lamborghini Driving Academy and he takes this job quite seriously. He should, since many of his students today haven’t driven anything more powerful than a Swift, and are soon about to be let loose in a Lamborghini. Max explains to the group the basics of braking, cornering and driving position.

The half hour briefing isn’t quite enough to let everyone jump from classroom to racetrack and there’s some slow speed exercises in a Gallardo. A skid pad with sprinklers has a surface slippery enough to practice some powerslides and feel the weight transfer when you slam open the throttle.

A slalom exercise follows, and the sudden direction changes through the cones gives a good idea of the Gallardo’s responsiveness and traction. After this, it’s time for the more seat-of-the-pants stuff and the fun bit.

Instead of the more familiar and relatively docile Gallardo LP 570-4, the group I’m assigned to is first given the monstrous Aventador. The car is an assault on all your senses. Settling down into this beast is an occasion in itself. The scissor doors swing upwards to reveal a cabin that’s more stealth fighter than car. Flip the bright red, fighter-jet-styled flap upwards, press the starter button, see the TFT instruments light up like a Christmas tree and hear the 6.5-litre V12 dramatically burst into life. My pulse is racing and we haven’t even moved an inch.

The last time I drove an Aventador was also on a racetrack, so I know what to expect, but that still can’t prepare me for the brutal manner in which the Aventador accelerates. Rumbling out of the pit lane and onto the start-finish straight, the pace car (another Aventador) suddenly shoots ahead, giving me the cue to unleash all 690 horses sitting a few inches behind my head.

It’s hard to describe what it feels like when you mash the nicely sprung throttle pedal. The effect is instant, explosive and unrelenting. There’s just no letting up in any gear, all the way up to the 8,500rpm redline. It gobbles up the short straights at Imola, the V12 screaming away, interrupted for only 50 milliseconds by each upshift. Each pull of the right paddle sends shockwaves to your spine, especially in the extreme Corsa mode. The Aventador doesn’t even pretend to be anything other than extreme. There’s no finesse to the monstrous way it delivers its performance, which is what makes it thrilling and downright frightening in equal measure.

Even with a four-wheel-drive and the security of stability control (always left on), the car is overwhelming to drive, especially on a circuit that’s equally challenging. Imola’s mix of fast straights, high-speed corners, chicanes and hairpins is what makes it one of the best driver’s circuits in the world. The undulating terrain, like the steep climb up from Tosa to Piratella and the blind brow on the run down to Rivazza, simply adds to the thrills. It’s a good thing the Aventador in front of me isn’t pushing too hard and driving just a notch below my limit. Five laps have felt like a whole race in the big Lambo and I can feel myself panting as I cruise back into the pit lane.

The Gallardo feels like a baby compared to its elder sibling, and the truth is that the smaller Lambo is infinitely more enjoyable at Imola than the Aventador, which felt edgy and needed constant steering inputs at the limit. It’s not that Gallardo is slow, the LP570-4 Superleggera has, as its nomenclature denotes, almost 570bhp. The V10 engine isn’t short on aural drama either and sounds brilliant. It feels more stable than the Aventador under braking, and it even puts the power down more cleanly without doing too much of a shimmy (yes, even with stability control on, these cars are prone to doing the odd jig).

With increased familiarity of the circuit and in a car that’s easier to drive fast, my confidence levels are rising and so is my speed. It also helps that the driver of the pace car in front has sensed that I’m settling down into a nice quick rhythm and has gradually started braking later and putting down the power earlier. If someone was timing me, I am sure the lap times in the Gallardo would have been much quicker than my laps in the Aventador. Proof then, that a Gallardo is all the Lambo you really need.